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Freedom is your natural state of being, your true nature, when you are free from any bondage to your mind.

Freedom is found to be a state of pure self-awareness where you are balanced and settled in your own free self. You find your best you, your happiest you, living with health, clarity and confidence. In this state of freedom, you can relax and enjoy life. You’re no longer driven to behave in ways that make you unhappy. You’re free to be happy!

Freedom also means free from anxiety and fears, and when anxieties and fears are gone, then you’re naturally happier and more joyful. Freedom is a space of perfect contentment, satisfaction and fulfillment, with a deep sense of security and wholeness.

WHAT IS MEDITATION FOR FREEDOM?
Meditation for freedom is your direct experience of your innate freedom and joy. In this meditation, with the goal of freedom, you take a pause from following what’s going on in your mind. In this pause, you just watch what’s going on, without reacting to it. This pause is a powerful practice, as it gives you some moments for a new perspective on what you’re thinking. It’s in this pause that you can notice all the kinds of thoughts and perceptions in your mind.

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First, sit quietly in meditation and simply watch for some time. Then, start to observe that your mind is forever changing, but you, the watcher of the mind, are forever unchanging. You are always simply present as the watcher of all these happenings. You observe that you are not any of these changes in your mind: you are always watching and knowing the changes.

This unchanging watcher is yourself, and this you is never attached to or caught up in the ever-changing mind.

You might think that you are not meditating because you’re noticing so many thoughts. But the fact is that these thoughts and perceptions are going on all the time in your mind, all day long. In meditation, you simply take some time to pause, sit, close your eyes, and watch your mind’s activities.

Your mind will continue as usual: thinking, perceiving, dreaming, and carrying on a running commentary! But during meditation, you are just watching all the activities, senses and thoughts.

By sitting regularly in meditation, day by day, you start to relax about all the activity in your mind, and not be concerned about it. You come to realize that your mind can be more active or less active, but it doesn’t disturb you. You continue to sit and watch throughout any thinking that goes on. You get the sense that the content of your mind might be happy or might be upset, but you are still just sitting in meditation, still, relaxed and watching anything that comes.

Instead of expecting to change the contents of your mind, you come to see that you are already free from what your mind is thinking. You don’t need to worry about what your mind is doing, because you are just sitting and watching it all, like watching a show on television.

Your mind’s attention normally notices what you perceive through your senses, as well as what you’re creatively thinking or remembering. As long as you continue only to pay attention to all of this activity in your mind, without awareness that you’re doing this, then you’ll continue to believe in whatever you happen to perceive or think.

The way to cultivate and grow into freedom consciousness is, firstly, to become aware of what you’re paying attention to at any given moment. It’s been observed by people who meditate, that the mind is infinitely creative in putting its attention on a vast number of things and thoughts. There’s no end to the mind’s power to pay attention to every possible kind of form and event. The more you are aware of what your mind is paying attention to, the more you can become the master of your own mind, and not merely following the mind, being a slave to its constant fluctuations.

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The Sanskrit verse, Yogash Chitt Vritti Nirodha, tells us that real freedom is found when you can see that your mind is always full of sense perceptions and thoughts, but you know that you are not ever bound by any of these.

Even if you observe thoughts or emotions in your consciousness, you never need to become attached to any experiences, highs or lows. You observe that your mind still goes through all of these various, ever-changing states and experiences, but now you know that you are always the pure and free watcher of all of your mind’s activities.

You are like the Lotus flower – completely immersed in and one with all the wonderful and changing happenings in the world, and yet forever remaining pure and free and un-mixed in your knowledge of who you really are.

Nirodha is a Sanskrit word used in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras to define the perfect state of peace, or YOGA. Commonly interpreted as ‘control or suppression’ of the mind, the real meaning of Nirodha is to know that you are forever pure and free, and the waves of your mind never have power to define or diminish you. Simply know that you are always pure and free. This is Nirodha.

Practice Nirodha in meditation. Sit quietly and in stillness with your eyes closed. Do not attempt to control or suppress or stop the waves of your thinking mind. Instead, remember that you are pure and free, and the waves of your mind are just fleeting forms and movements, like clouds through the pure sky space. Never assume that any thought can define you or anyone else, or take away the innate freedom that is your true nature. Repeat to yourself, “I am pure, free forever.”

I want to thank all the intrepid yogis and life-adventurers who made it all the way to the north-western Himalayas of India this autumn for the first OM Meditation Retreat! It was nothing less than miraculous to see you all walk off the small airplane that landed in Kullu Valley that fine Sept 21 morning! We took you straight to the large new Buddhist temple for morning Tibetan prayers and tea, then whisked you up the valley, north to the town of Manali and the restful Manuallaya Resort and Spa. I was so happy you each loved your mountain view rooms and the high bliss of 7000 foot altitude air!

Our daily satsang/knowledge classes were stimulating and deeply introspective, although challenging for sure. These were classes designed to take your self-inquiry deeper and subtler than you’d ever considered possible. It was all amazing and each day the conversations grew clearer, more insightful and more astonishing.

I loved our daily silent meditations together- the peace of sitting in awareness with a group of like-minded people, in the magical atmosphere of the Valley of Gods. The breath work was quiet and profoundly transforming, and the hath a yoga, especially when we practiced in the rooftops! , was stunning and felt like magic.

Almost every afternoon we went with you on an adventure to places where no tourist has ever gone before!! The private back-country of foot-paths and villages and up to a rare “Snake Temple”, walking through old-forest and doing yoga with the mighty Himalayan trees!, driving up to the heavenly heights of Rhotang Pass (at 11,ooo feet!) and experiencing first-hand the infinitely expansive bliss of mind-free consciousness! I know we all directly felt and knew that space of freedom and pure majestic being. Thank you for being there to share that experience and I hope when you meditate the memory of infinite bliss stay in your awareness forever.

And how we shared participating in the Dushera festival, walking with the Goddess as she made her way with the shaman and the villagers down the hill from her temple towards the valley festival. That experience was a gift that could never be planned!

I most loved the evening singing and silent meditations. Going beyond the mind, we could sit in perfect Oneness together.

I’m sending my love to each brave participant of OM Meditation Retreat! I will continue to post here this winter as I remain in the Himalayas on a continuing meditation, study and writing retreat; and look forward to seeing you in 2015 in Canada or maybe at another OM Retreat!

A dear friend of mine had the Sanskrit word Mrityunjai tattooed across his left chest. The word means “victorious over death.” This friend was a true yogi, someone who faced death, and knew for himself that death does not exist. We met after he’d had a bone marrow transplant due to a second episode of cancer. He was forced to go farther and look deeper into living than most of us ever have to do. It’s as if he was destined to be god-realized in this lifetime, whether he chose to or not. This word Mrityunjai gets to the heart of the most esoteric and spiritual message of yoga: You are Ever-Present. Of course this does not mean that our bodies won’t die. Everything in this changing world must continue to change. Doing yoga poses, practicing breath work and eating a vegetarian diet makes you healthier, and can possibly extend your lifespan, but it is in meditation and self inquiry that the profoundest meaning of yoga is known. In meditation you simply sit, with your eyes closed. At first you only see the changes in your mind, but after settling into stillness, you start to witness the ever-present space of being in you. This unchanging space is always there when you meditate. Behind the colourful and varying imagination and memory of your fantastic mind, this formless space of awareness is always there, waiting for you to notice it’s subtle existence. This subtlest space is your eternal being. This pure presence is the base of your existence and what you were before you were born, who you are now, and who you will be once your body has lived its years. The miracle of this space is that it can be know to you immediately. Right now, know that the purest sense you have of who you call ‘I’, is this pure space of being. Normally, you automatically associate this ‘I’ with your name, your body, your status and a thousand other qualifications. But if you meditate on the words “I am I”, then you will come closer to realizing that you are this subtlest space of pure being. In deep meditation, when your mind has become still, you’ll witness that the purity of your real being exists. It’s incredible that we assume to fear death so much. Of course, we see bodies dying and passing away. But we really don’t have any direct proof that the existence of a person is extinguished. We see a body die, but is a person just their body? This begins the inquiry into who a person is, who you are. Meditators ask themselves, “Am I just this body?” Intuitively, some of us realize that we are more than this. You might say there is also no proof that life doesn’t die. But there is proof: the direct experience of countless visionaries who came to know in their own awareness that life is one, eternal, immortal, ever-present, and pure existence. These true sages have spoken to people in all cultures, in all centuries. Their message is simple: “Know that you are pure and free forever. Do not have any fear due to an idea of death. You are immortal and blissful.” This is the message for my dear friend, who will never die. And for all my dear friends who desire pure freedom. Padma Meditation Meditation Teacher Training www.padmameditation.com www.padmayoga.ca

Up at 5AM we loaded up and took off for Agra. Just a year ago the road was a single lane, full of potholes and was an experience of 5 hours of near head-on collisions the whole way as traffic wove and raced in opposite directions. Because of the Commonwealth Games 6 months ago, the road has been remade. Two luxurious lanes in each direction divided by a barrier down the center. Along the center divide, twigs of straggley plants looked like they’d been planted 6 months ago and I don’t give them the summer!

Travelling past big blue Krishna temples and crossing the green fields that are the home land of Lord Krishna, on the bus we sang the Krishna song, “Govinda Narayana.”

In Agra, we checked into the Clark’s hotel and, after lunch, went to where we got 2 at a time onto horse-drawn tongas, or little chariots. The skinny little horses dashed through the busy road and ours even crashed into a road barrier almost flipping us over! At the Taj Mahal, we divided into smaller groups and entered the grounds. A festival was going on and the huge achrage was full of people. I loved the fabulous parade of gorgeous saris and fabrics that painted a beautiful river of colour all around the Taj itself. Inside the Taj a few of us stopped and stayed awhile, following local guides and looking carefully at the inlaid gems and stones that decorate the interior walls of the tomb. The acoustics are perfect and it was hard not to call out some noise just to hear the echo.

Flowing the flow out, we wandered back through the gardens to the west gate where we found the others and jumped onto our bus.

A couple of us opted to go to the hotel to rest while the others went to the Red Fort. The evening sunset was an unbelievable firey ball of red. I sat and had tea and watched it from my hotel room. I heard that that evening at the Red Fort was one of the most beautiful ever: the Taj Mahal shining pink in the dusty distance, and the walls of the fort radiating red in the magical red glow of the evening.

We all met together at the classical north Delhi hotel, the Oberoi Maidens. This beautiful and renovated hotel still holds the air and heritage of India 100 years ago with high white ceilings inside and green, manicured gardens with a pool outside.

Eighteen interesting and intelligent people from across North America and South Africa had come together to initiate a journey.

The darling tour guide, Aarti, a Delhi resident, introduced the evening and gave an overview of the tour logistics, along with cautionary notes that the trip might be somewhat challenging, especially once we headed to the Himalayas.

The route ahead was from Delhi to Agra to Jaipur to the middle of the Thar desert, all in the next four days. After that we headed to the Himalayan mountains, into the remoter areas of India where just ten years ago there were no phones, no internet, and barely any hot water or electricity for that matter!

The next morning we started with a 7AM yoga class and meditation. Bodies were sore from long international flights, but we had a good stretch and relax plus a quiet meditation, remembering why we’d come and focusing on our deeper purpose.

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the Islamic mosque, Jammu Masjid for a morning stroll, dressed in the brightly coloured robes we were given to wear over our western clothes, and a climb up the minuret for a view of Delhi. All around we could see the pink, lilac, and soft pastel colours of the spread of two and three-story cement buildings that make up Delhi. There are no sky-scrapers; Delhi is a street-level city. Life below was already thronging with cars, donkeys, dogs, vendors, and cycle rickshaws. We were shown in one temple corner a real 1500 year old hair from the Prophet Mohammed’s beard.

Just outside the mosque we jumped up onto cycle rickshaws, like little chariots, and were carried into the inner streets of Chawdni Chawk, the 500 year-old marketplace of old Delhi. In here, we had to get down on foot as the alleys get narrower and narrower, shops cram together and monkeys jump overhead. Delicious deep-fried paranthas and colourful vegetables were served up and we were getting really hungry just smelling the savoury treats. We looked into shops filled with all the adornments needed for elaborate Indian weddings and Aarti shopped for items for her niece’s wedding.

For our lunch we drove to a Chinese restaurant and had a banquet of Chinese dishes. Every meal over the next two weeks would be different, as Aarti worked to select the menus for us and ensure we had a sampling of as many types of different foods that are available in India.

Later in the afternoon we found ourselves at the Sikh temple where we walked around the large cool pool of water, sat and meditated and listened to the chanting being broadcast from inside the temple. We then went inside, sitting in the great carpeted room, and meditated again, listening to the ringing sounds of devotional voice and tablas.

We returned to the Oberoi after a full, sometimes overwhelming, and exciting first day in India!

It has been an amazing winter here in the western Himalayas of India. Recently I have been taking day hikes up into the villages and hamlets that speckle the hillsides of this beautiful area. As soon as I head upwards from the single paved road that winds its way up the length of this valley, I find only foot paths that trace the steps of the hill people who have lived here for thousands of years. The paths usually follow the natural terrain, travelling along the slopes parallel to the river below, with angled vertical paths that join them at key points. Paths lead up from the main road far, far below to the many tiny hamlets of old stone and timber houses, the beautiful mountain people who live here and all their precious livestock. Shepherds also wander all through the hills here, clicking and whistling to their flocks of white and black sheep. Occasionally, I come across a cave on the side of a cliff where these hardy men must camp overnight.
The rains came very late this year and so the mountains are just now covered in the gorgeous white frosting of snow and ice. The high peaks around are magestic and I am reminded that this area is really the high Himalayas, far from the rest of the flat sub-continent. It’s been as warm as spring for months here, and I know the local farmers are happy finally to get some rain.
I went up to a local high town just north of here that used to be the valley king’s palace hundreds of years ago. The stone castle is perched on a point that looks up and down, north to south. The elaborate wooden temple at the palace dates back over 500 years. Story has it that a swarm of a million bees carried the alter stone to the temple.
The king of this valley now lives in a palace in the main town abit south of this village, but strolling about this incredibly picturesque area it is easy to see why this location was selected so long ago as the capital.
Below the steep hillsides, the flat fields stretch out in carefully groomed terraces, now starting to burst with the bright green sprouts of the coming crops of buckwheat.